Mindful breathing is the most basic mindfulness meditation. But basic doesn’t mean easy or shallow. Mindfulness of breath is a tremendously powerful practice. If all you gain from this book is how to do[more…]

Your body doesn’t have to be physically still in order to practice mindfulness meditation. Some people struggle with being physically still for extended periods of time. However, almost everyone enjoys[more…]

One of the unique features of the body scan meditation is that you do it lying down, making it an ideal meditation for you to begin with, as you don’t need to hold your body upright for long periods of[more…]

Here are some of the common difficulties that arise with the body scan meditation. Look through the list to see if any of them apply to you. This may help to put your mind at rest if you had an unusual[more…]

Sitting meditation, also called expanding awareness meditation, lies at the heart of mindfulness meditation practice. The sitting position has been used for meditation for thousands of years and for good[more…]

Mindful sitting meditation is made up of five distinct stages. You may like to begin with practicing one stage and move on to add a stage when you feel you’ve understood it. Alternatively, if you’re feeling[more…]

Relationships can be a challenging yet fulfilling mindfulness practice. Mindful relationships are an oasis of sanity in a world of high-speed communication but less real connection. Making a relationship[more…]

All relationships, whether with a partner or work colleague, are like a mirror. Relationships can help you see your own desires, judgments and expectations. Seeing relationships as a mirror can be hugely[more…]

Most people experience at least one difficult relationship. Perhaps many of your relationships are difficult — that’s not something to be ashamed of. Relationships can stir up all sort of challenging emotions[more…]

Practicing mindfulness while your body is moving is an important step in your journey to mindful living because you probably spend a fair amount of your day moving about engaging in all sorts of physical[more…]

One of the challenges of mindfulness meditation is to stay awake. If you do fall asleep, don’t worry too much about it. Even the Dalai Lama falls asleep when meditating sometimes, so you’re following in[more…]

A distraction is something that takes your attention away from whatever you’re focusing on. As a meditation beginner, you may want to reduce external distractions as far as you can, but beyond that, distractions[more…]

Working with physical discomfort is an important learning process in mindfulness. Usually, human beings try to avoid physical discomfort as far as possible. But discomfort can be a wonderful teacher because[more…]

Boredom and agitation are connected to energy states. Boredom is associated with low levels of energy and agitation with high levels of energy. Mindfulness is about noticing both. A side-effect of mindfulness[more…]

Mindfulness is a powerful way of handling difficult emotions. As a human being, you’ll always experience emotions. In your mindfulness practice, emotions continue to arise and pass away, just like in everyday[more…]

Thoughts and emotions are interconnected and often interact with each other. But they’re also different. Thoughts are like sounds or images in your mind. Emotions are experiences felt within your mind[more…]

The latest wellbeing theory from the founder of the positive psychology movement, Dr. Martin Seligman, consists of five elements, summarized by the mnemonic PERMA. Dr. Seligman believes that these elements[more…]

You may have noticed how your emotions affect your body posture. If you’re feeling blue, you’re more likely to look down and walk slowly with hunched shoulders. But if you’re feeling confident, you probably[more…]

The breathing space meditation is a short three-stage meditation that’s often taught in mindfulness courses all over the world. The meditation is supposed to be about three minutes long, but that’s just[more…]